Time Can Heal Even A Phantom's Scars
by 18-Midori-37
Summary: Danielle unintentionally touches a nerve in Danny that he avoids acknowledging by playing it off as unimportant, leaving her curious as to the cause. So she sets out to find the answer herself by seeking the help of The Master of Time...Continuing from Phantom's Ice Core! Danny x Danielle father/daughter fic!


Title: Time Can Heal Even A Phantom's Scars

Rating: T…I guess

Characters: Danny x Danielle father / daughter

Words: 2200

Notes/Warnings: IAMSOSORRY! *ahem* Ok, now that I've poured my heart out into my most sincere apology over being away for so long, I'd like to welcome all you dear readers to a new addition to my story of Danny and Danielle! This here is one of the two one-shots that I had promised at the end of _Phantom's Ice Core_. 'Course, as you'll notice, what I have to present to you today is not the full one-shot, but part one of it, seeing as this one-shot ended up waaaay longer than intended. So as not to wait any longer, I'm posting the first portion to this new fic that's ready to go! I've missed writing these two so much, and just writing fics in general, and as I've had a good bit of time this semester and getting back into the swing of things, I'll be picking up all my WIP. As to when the next part to this fic or any of my others will be ready I cannot say, but rest assured none of my fics are going to be abandoned. There's also been a couple short fics (ish) that I posted at my tumblr (midori37), if anyone is interested in checking out more of my stuff. I'll be cross-posting them when I get the chance. But ANYWAYS! Back to the topic at hand. _Phantom's Ice Core_ has done exceptionally well in my option, it's received so many favs, follows, and reviews, and I just want to say from the bottom of my heart: THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH! The more feedback and such that I got from it the more I wanted to write these one shots and others. Yet I also found myself wanting to go back and try to polish/tidy-up _Phantom's Ice Core_ to make it the absolute best. But in the end, I feel it's best to just leave it as be, people certainly seem to enjoy it that way, and so from here on out I just hope my skill steadily improves from what it is and continues to entertain you and that I can further this story and better it the more I go on. So I shall be taking my time with this and my other works, but know that it _does SO _also kill me to not be able to get things out quicker to you as I would like. Yeaaaah, so anyways enough 'bout that and let's get on with the fic! SO! Thank you so much in advance in giving this a read and I hope you enjoy!

Summary: Danielle unintentionally touches a nerve in Danny that he avoids acknowledging by playing it off as unimportant, leaving her curious as to the cause. So she sets out to find the answer herself by seeking the help of The Master of Time.

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is not mine.

* * *

_Bam!_

Air rushed past Danielle's lips as she was hit square in the stomach by an ecto-blast. She was sent flying back towards a billboard, phasing through it just in time to avoid a collision with a Nasty Burger advertisement.

Utilizing the coverage the still intact billboard provided, she leaned against it, panting heavily and attempting to collect herself.

"Ah!" Danielle sucked in a sharp breath, body stiffening as pain suddenly shot through her. Curling into herself, she wrapped her arms around her aching stomach as sweat and ectoplasm from a cut on her cheek mixed together and dripped off the tip of her nose and chin. She couldn't suppress a groan as the pain from her various wounds became more apparent now that she was still.

"Give up, Whelps!" Skulker shouted confidently. From beyond the billboard, she could hear her father doing the exact opposite.

Danny angrily shouted as he zoomed about, firing at Skulker with an array of blasts from his hands while the hunter either dodged or destroyed them with an attack of his own.

"Hah! Your efforts are wasted, Ghost Child! This time I will have both yours and your offspring's pelts on my wall!"

Danielle grimaced. For once, Skulker's usual skinning declaration held some true threat behind it. All in no due thanks to Vlad giving the hunter an upgrade in his weaponry. As a result, the unexpectedly brutal fight between the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter and the Phantom Father-Daughter Duo had been carrying on for good while now–—too long for Danielle.

Her movements were growing slower, her focus was slipping, and now that her attention wasn't trained on the fight she was able to take more notice of herself. Namely, she noticed the unpleasant feeling that had been rapidly growing inside her the longer she fought yet hadn't fully acknowledged. In the back of her mind there was a mental warning bell sounding off, but being so caught up in just trying to stay out of Skulker's line of fire she didn't register what her body was trying to tell her…until now.

Suddenly, Danielle's breath hitched as a sense of panic exploded within her at the realization of what was wrong: Her ghost-form was reaching its limit.

'_No!'_ Danielle tensed, squeezing her eyes shut as she desperately willed her transformation to hold. _'I can't believe this happening! Why now? After all this time?!'_

Danielle––a half-ghost with a mature mind, twelve-year-old body, yet not even a year old existence––had gone through quite the number of ordeals from the moment she stepped out of the cloning capsule. Vlad certainly hadn't taught Danielle much of anything even when it came to her ghost-half. All that she new upon exiting the capsule was simply part of how the elder half-ghost created her. Because of that, surviving on the streets as long as she had before she came to stay with Danny had been far from easy. Sure she had her ghost powers, but there were many times that in having said powers she felt she was made just as vulnerable as she was protected.

During her travels, Danielle picked up on many things. One of there more significant ones being that her ghost form had a limit. A limit––she learned the hard way––that was dependent on the condition of her human half. Her day-to-day living conditions varied greatly, and tended to lean towards unfavorable conditions for her human half at that. As such, Danielle would remain in her ghost form as much as her human half would allow, since in her doing so put further strain on her already vulnerable human half. From all this she came to understand to a certain degree that the key to avoiding that limit was to find a balance between her two halves. Though that was far more easily said than done given the circumstances surrounding her that cornered her into frequently reaching that limit regardless. Those were terribly traumatic experiences that always made her believe that she was just an inch away from death, so weak, helpless, and alone as she was.

That was no longer the case since she came to live with Danny in Amity Park. Through his help she has come to understand and control her powers better than ever before. There wasn't anything Danny wouldn't explain to her; he would answer any and all her questions about her ghost half or anything else as best he could or would seek out someone who did know. He was always going out of the way for her and she truly appreciated it and loved him from the bottom of her heart. Of course, it isn't anything too surprising coming from him, because that's just how he has always been. So with his and the rest of her family's efforts she now had a constant roof over her head, food to eat rather than steal, and a loving, supporting circle of people in her life, ghosts and humans alike.

For Danielle, it felt that it was only after Danny came to shelter her within his life that she herself finally began to _live,_ rather than just exist. She no longer doubted whether she mattered, much like she did when she was on her own. Because she did have a life to live, she had a purpose and goals. She knew she wasn't dreaming, but if she were to describe her new-found life, it would be just that: a dream. A dream that had been laying in wait unbeknownst to Danielle that surfaced the moment it became a dream come true.

So naturally, she couldn't help but wish this current reality of reaching her limit was also a dream. But there was no mistaking this feeling. The sensation of being so drained of her energy was much like an old friend. It had always reared its ugly head when it was least wanted and quite frequently too. It was one of the aspects of her life on the streets that Danielle had thought was finally detached from her since she gained her new life and had become nothing more than nasty memories easily pushed aside in favor of her more pleasant ones. Unfortunately, just as it did in the past, the sensation was making its grand re-entry at the worst possible time, bringing with it the old emotional baggage on top of the already severe situation.

But that didn't matter now. She wasn't going to let it have its way. She's changed since then. She's gotten stronger. She was in control of her own body and wasn't going to let her lack of energy get the better of her. Not until she stopped Skulker and made sure her family and the town was safe.

'_I have to hang on,' _Danielle slowly uncurled herself, taking deep breathes to gather her concentration and help her get through the pain. _'I won't leave Daddy to fight Skulker alone and protect me at the same time because I couldn't keep it together.'_

Danielle's head snapped down when she heard loudly cracking concrete beneath her. A familiar pained voice made its way to her ears and in the next moment the dust cleared to reveal Danny sprawled out on the now destroyed sidewalk, face down and making no signs of getting up.

Within the blink of an eye, Danielle flew down and positioned herself before him, deflecting Skulker's blast aimed at Danny back to the hunter. She missed, but successfully got his attention redirected to her rather than on Danny.

Behind her, Danny had gotten himself up on his hands and knees, moving a hand to support his hurting head as he was racked by dizziness. He heard the sound of ecto-blasts smashing against ecto-blasts and looked over his shoulder to see Danielle defending him against Skulker's onslaught of attacks. He was relived to still see her still in motion after the blow she took moments ago, but he knew she was weakening. They both were.

Danny only managed to breath out a raspy "Dani––" before he had to stop and spit out the ectoplasm pooling inside his mouth from the punch Skulker dealt. However, he was unable to say the rest due to Danielle taking the momentary break in Skulker's attack to shoot up into the air and begin to fire back at the hunter.

Danny let his head drop when Danielle left his line of view, urging it to stop pounding. _'This isn't good…'_

He, Danielle, and the rest of their family had been on their way home after an evening out when they came across not only Skulker, but also Technus, both engaged in an intense battle against each other. They were in an argument over who was the better user of technology after Technus had made fun of Skulker's upgraded mechanical body and weapons (or something to that effect) and were in the middle of trying to outdo the other when Danny and the others had found them. The good news was once Skulker and Technus noticed them, their attention went from their fight to Team Phantom. The bad news…was that their attention went from their fight to Team Phantom, and chose to settle their argument instead by seeing who could defeat the two half-ghosts first.

Knowing it would be crazy to try and take on both of them at once, Danny and the others had worked together to split up Skulker and Technus; Danny and Danielle drawing Skulker in one direction, while Tucker, Jazz, and Sam took Technus in the other. Trusting his gut feeling that something was out of the ordinary, Danny also sent after them a duplicate of himself to help his sister and friends capture Technus. What he didn't expect was for both Skulker and Technus to be on what seemed on a whole other level of power this time around seeing as how hard it was to get the upper hand on either one of them.

'_I blame that fruitloop for all this,' _Danny mentally cursed as he unsteadily rose to his feet. _'Not that it matters right now.'_

No, what mattered right now above all else was getting this long, trying battle to an end, and at this point, it seemed his options were boiling down to only one.

Danny tilted his head to look up from his point on the ground, giving himself the briefest of moments to get the world to stop spinning as he followed Danielle's movements, watching as she became more and more sluggish while the hunter was still going strong. Danny grit his teeth as he saw Danielle get struck by one of Skulker's lasers she couldn't avoid. Yet not even that could deter her. Even in her weakening state she was still determined to shake off the pain and fatigue and fight on. A ghost of a smile formed on Danny's lips; Danielle's behavior reminding him a lot of himself, reminding him of why they pushed themselves this far.

'_That's right…we don't have to win…we just have to make Skulker lose!'_

Needing every ounce of energy he could muster for what he was about to do, Danny recalled the duplicate he had fighting Technus.

'_I'm sorry, guys. Just hang in there. I'll come to find you and capture Technus, but first I need Skulker out of the way,' _Danny promised._ 'Danielle and I can't last much longer...'_

Gathering ecto-plasmic energy at the back of his throat, Danny locked his sight on Skulker. Uneasiness began to wash over Danny as it usually did when he attempted this act. Memories flashed through his mind. Thoughts and emotions from a time not too long ago coming to the forefront of his mind all too clear and raw as the moment they happened.

He clenched his jaw tight. His hands turning into fists as he got his breathing to even out somewhat in an attempt to ground himself in the present and focus at the task at hand.

He didn't need his past-slash-future to haunt him now.

'_I only have one chance at this…'_

Energy at the ready, Danny hovered up off the ground slightly before flying straight towards the hunter his daughter was fighting, intending to grab her and pull her behind his back and out of the range of his Ghostly Wail.

But instead he reached for the thermos attached to her side when Danielle created the opening they had been waiting for.

At her limit yet unwilling to back down, Danielle felt fear and anger swell up within her. She continued to fight Skulker but was yielding no results and just further exhausting her energy. So in a last ditch effort to stop the hunter, she channeled her emotions towards her powers, cupping a swirling, ice blue ray between her hands. And with the last of her energy, she fired…and blasted Skulker.

In that instant, the hunter's body was completely encased in ice.

In the next, Danny swiftly absorbed the hunter into the thermos and capped the lid shut.

Then, with a panicked cry of "Dani!" Danny shot down, cutting through the air in chase to catch a now human Danielle plummeting to the ground.


End file.
